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Title: The Raiders

Author: Harold Robbins

Narrator: Kevin Stillwell

Format: Unabridged

Length: 13 hrs and 58 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-03-15

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 8 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

The explosive sequel to The Carpetbaggers is set in an atmosphere of wealth, decadence, and unbridled sexuality, ranging in scene from Las Vegas to Mexico City, New York, and Havana. This electrifying tale continues the Cord family saga, pitting Jonas Cord Jr. against his illegitimate son, Bat, in a struggle for control of a vast fortune.

Members Reviews:

Continuing a Classic

This is not the best of Harold's work, but it is a continuation of one of the most timeless and powerful of all the stories written by Robbins, The Carpetbaggers, which remains in my top 5 books I've ever read, of all time!

Great book

If you enjoyed Harold Robbins other books, this one is a gem. I would recommend this to anyone that enjoys a lot of twists and turns.

I liked this book a great deal but I did not ...

I liked this book a great deal but I did not love it. I thought the characters were well drawn, the story line was almost non existent except for the continuing strife between father and son. The ending was anticlimactic at best. And those things made me feel it necessary to say I like the book but I don't love it, so four instead of five stars.

Better than Usual Trash from Robbins, but Still Trash

A sequel to "The Carpetbaggers," "The Raiders" is not as good as its predecessor. However, it is one of Harold Robbins' better novels, especially in comparison to the dreck he had been cranking out since 1980. "The Raiders" kicks off in 1951, with Jonas Cord dodging a subpoena to a Senate hearing (and driving his wife Monica to divorce him -- again). With the help of his longtime friend/father figure Nevada Smith (now in his seventies), he finds a safe haven in, of all places, Las Vegas. Jonas, ever on the lookout to make still more money, becomes intrigued by the casino gambling biz, not only buying the casino and hotel in which he's holed up, but building one of his own. It's while exploring the viability of a casino in Cuba that he learns of an illegitimate son he sired with Sonja Batista, one of the many women he's bedded. (Given Jonas' hyperactive sex life, it's surprising that he has only *one* illegitimate child.) It's the relationship between this newly discovered son, nicknamed Bat -- from Batista -- and his domineering father that make up the bulk of the book, Bat struggling to prove himself yet retain his independence while his father generously appoints his son to high positions in his empire only to second guess -- often overrule -- Bat's decisions. The relationship between father and son becomes more contentious as they pursue ventures in TV production and casino gambling, but it's their tangle with the Mafia that could prove deadly.

There are side trips along the way into various characters' back stories, some of which are interesting, some not so much. As is to be expected from Robbins, there's lots of sex. However, given that from the mid-1970s forward many of Robbins' books read like letters in Penthouse Forum, he shows relative restraint here. Unapologetic male chauvinism is another Robbins staple, but even Larry Flynt would bristle at the hostile portrayal of women in "The Raiders." In Robbins' world, women are either vindictive harpies or compliant sex goddesses, and all are slaves to the male member.